Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/156/1 - March 1917 - Part 5

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AMC man how many
were in / village. He 
sd 200-300. S. wdnt believe
him - We only had abt 450
in the attack. It made him
v. anxious lest they shd be
cut off.
LLoyd was out on / 
rt trying to get touch
w 55 Bn but cdnt
find them. Lloyd himself
shot 8 or 9 men w his
pistol tt day. He ws
hit in the thigh by a 
piece of shell at abt 8 am.
On the corner opp. Queant
near / distillery Lloyd
came on a german offr

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running w a box under
his arm. He shot him.
The box contained all sorts
of beautiful underlinen.
(An aeropl. mess inquiry ws
dropped after this man 
_^ abt Ap. 20  a month later ).  "Have you
any inftn _^ regarding Capt. Rudolf Guesse, who
ws at Lagnict when you attd?"
Lloyd ws then wearing
his blue silk underpants.
Lloyd also got the
wireless man who ws
trying to get away with 
box & complete wireless
gear. It ws too heavy &
he ws captd.
Shortly after this Lloyd

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saw the C-attack
developing & hid the gear
in a shell hole. He
ws shortly afterwds wd. &
noone else knew where
it ws.  3 or 4 days later
it ws found by his directn
& sent on to G.H.Q.
Lloyd rang C.O. up
when wd & told him
that "there ws a - 1000
of the Germans coming on."
This ws confirmed by
Cherry later.
The posts beyond / 
village were now
pretty well estab by A & B

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Coys.  C Coy under
Cherry were hard fighting
in / village. They first
met trouble at the
entrance o / village
at the trench described
before, from m.gs.
Lt Hamilton MC ws
severely wd. & Lt
Corner near the big
crater in the village.
(Corner had bn wd in the
18 Bn at Hill 60 in Gallipoli.
He ws sent to a cadet
training Bn & this ws his
first fight & he ws v. keen.
Cherry used to say tt he
wd be all right).

53
There were few 18 pdrs
behind them & they noticed
the big proportn of heavies to
18 pdrs.

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They had gone nearly 1000 yds before
/ village. They went straight at the
two m.gs.
Early in / fight Cherry
came across a German offr
who surrendered, &, as
Cherry walked forwd, he
brought his hands down
quickly & shot Cherry
w a revolver he had had
in his hands concealed.
Cherry shot him. Cherry
ws only slightly wd. After
the C-attack Stapleton
wanted C. to come &
get this wound bound
up at the R.A.P.
He wdnt. He ws K. abt
half an hour afterwds.

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Cherry used to say tt he cd
not face his people without
a decoration. (His M.C.
for Malt trench came out the
day after he ws k.).
Cherry ws held up
next for some time in / 
village at that crater.
He sent back a message
"Held up by strong point.
Have you a Stokes?"
Half an hr later anor
message ws recd:
"Can't wait for Stokes;
having a "go" at it; will
report result later."
The report ws later
came in: "Got them with

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Lewis guns & Rifle Bombs
from the flanks. The lot
killed. Damned good."
One other officer of
Cherry's ws named
Bieske. He had a heavy
fight w a German who
hit him in / leg &
smashed his leg. They
were wrestling w one another
& Bieske (of Ballarat?)
choked him. This ws
near the same strong point.
They fell to / bottom o
/ crater wrestling. B.
with his broken leg. He
has lost his leg & is
now in No3 Lond Gen Hosp!

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The village ws gradly
cleaned tho sniping went
on for some time. When
Cherry got thro' the
village, & Murphy of
D Coy ws following in
rear, Murphy
mopped up the village
of snipers. He had
several small fights.
He came _^ back to the rear
o / village with most
of his D Coy.
Sergt Smith of D Coy
ws in a post at
abt P.  The other
posts were reld by
19 Bn but this post

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ws not known of,
& Smith, tho', he knew
what ws happening,
stayed on where he ws
& ws relieved next
night.
When Cherry got thro
/ village he found /
posts in positn in
front of it - he knew
they wd be there.
He found / c. attack
had well started
on / right. Cherry
had lost all his offrs
& abt 50 men; as
there ws a c. attack on

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& he do ws so weak
he did not take
his men back to the
road at F as he had
bn told to do, but
gathered all he cd
& went straight up to /
point attacked.
He lined up his men
& sd "If anything
happens to me, all
you fellows are to tell
the C.O that I want
especially mentioned
Sergt Powell (of D Coy)
who had joined him up
& come on w him) to
Nutt the Lewis Gunner (who